1. Technical Field
The invention relates to an automatic analyzer, in which racks holding specimens being analyzed are transferred and the specimens are sampled by analysis units, and a method of transferring racks.
2. Background Art
Results of analysis of vital specimens such as plasma, serum, urine or the like give rise to much information in diagnosis of the condition of a disease. JP-A-10-339732 describes an apparatus for automatically analyzing such vital specimens. With this prior art, a plurality of analysis units are arranged along a transfer line comprised of a belt conveyor, a rack supply section being arranged on one end side of the transfer line and a rack recovery section being arranged on the other end side. A rack holding a specimen stops at one or more analysis units and then is recovered by the rack recovery section.
Further, the JP-A-10-339732 discloses a constitution, in which in addition to the rack supply section for common specimens, a supply section is provided to repeatedly supply standard liquid racks and control specimen racks, these two supply sections being connected to the transfer line.
Also, Japanese National Publication No. 8-510554 discloses a constitution, in which a loading device for loading sample carriers onto a loop-shaped conveyor, an unloading device for unloading from the conveyor and a plurality of analysis modules are arranged around the conveyor, and a turntable is arranged between the loop-shaped conveyor and the respective analysis modules to be able to rotate the plurality of sample carriers.